Friday Knight News – Gaming Edition: 24-AUG-2012

By Game Knight, on August 24th, 2012

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Welcome to another edition of the Friday Knight News. Hopefully those of you who made it to Gen Con last weekend are getting back into the swing of things. And those of us who didn’t make it are catching up on all the news via a variety of blog posts over the last week (though I’m sure they’ll continue for another week or two). With all the build-up to the Con and the Con itself, there’s a bit of a lull while everybody collectively catches their breath.

Wasn’t as productive a week here as I’d hoped, since I was sitting on the sidelines at a soccer tournament all weekend (my youngest got 2nd in their division and my eldest got 4th, and they both played hard). Beyond that, I finally had some time to check out Banners on the Cheap, ponder music in RPG sessions, and chat with RPGPundit about his new game on the horizon – Arrows of Indra. We’ll hope that this weekend is a bit more conducive to getting some writing done.

I love it when people in the spotlight (actors, directors, musicians) reveal their love for RPGs. Apparently Nick Offerman (TV’s Parks and Recreation and Childrens Hospital) is a huge Call of Cthulhu fan and was a LARPer in college! (Thanks Josh Krup @ Uproxx for the story!)

Improvisation. Ad-libbing. Winging it. No matter which term you use, it can be scary for GMs new or old. Well, Lord Maximus @ Dungeons N Dragons has some great tips on how to prepare enough to wing it when the time comes. And if that sounds like an oxymoron, it’s not!

I’ve heard nothing but good things about Madness of Gardmore Abbey (4e) from James Wyatt, Creighton Broadhurst, and Steve Townshend @ WotC. And Mike Shea @ Sly Flourish has ideas on how to make it better… What’s more is that these tips can apply to things beyond Gardmore Abbey. Sandboxes are fun, folks!

Trask @ Living Dice wrote up some reports about some of the cool things spotted at Gen Con… Part 1 deals mostly with what the vendors had to offer and Part 2 had to do with the events…

Kickstarter

The Reaper Miniatures Kickstarter – Dark Heaven Bones – is nearing the end of its funding window, but has nearly 10,000 backers and raised almost $2,000,000 (it may have blown past that by the time you read this). That’s a lot of zeroes. I’m excited to see all of these cool little minis show up at my doorstep sometime in the next 6-8 months (I’m a backer at the Vampire level, and for $100 it’s insane how many minis are included). The Reaper folks have their work cut out for them and I wish them all the best. Only a few more hours left to get in on the action!

What do you get when you mix Cthulhu with Murder on the Orient Express? Horror on the Orient Express, of course – from Chaosium. This classic box set from 1991 is getting a serious update and has some great momentum – with more than 30 days left and already with 250% funding. Lovecraft-inspired gaming. What’s not to like?

If you’re looking for other types of projects to support, check out Zenestex “Crowdfunding Round Up” @ Geeks of Doom… Plenty of great projects from web comic collections to Steampunk and an interview of Jeff McComsey, the “Supreme Commander” of the FUBAR 2 project.

target="_blank">Gale Force Nine announced at Gen Con a new line of miniatures for D&D – the D&D Miniatures Collectors Series. Critters like the Purple Worm, Beholders, and even Lolth are included in the mix.

Raging Swan Press continues to impress me with their aggressive publishing schedule… This week they released So What’s The Armour Like, Anyway? from designer Richard Green. Sure, we all know warriors we fight have chain or leather or plate, but what’s it look like? This book offers plenty of descriptions to fill the blanks!

Reviews

Thilo Graf is definitely one of the Sleepless from Nancy Kress’ Beggars in Spain. I don’t see where else he gets the time to review as many titles as he does for G*M*S Magazine. This week he looked at Shadow Planes & Pocket Worlds, a web enhancement for Dark Roads and Golden Hells from Open Design. Apparently there’s a bit of controversy about this one and has some seriously mature themes revolving around children trapped in a twisted fairy tale.

Jade @ Evil Machinations took some time to write a review. She doesn’t do that often, so it must be good. And it is – Never Prepared: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Session Prep from Phil Vecchione & Engine Publishing. Read the review. Buy the book. ‘Nuff said.

Ryan Matthew Pierson @ LockerGnome has an opinion about which of the Pathfinder Adventure Paths is the best… He recommends Kingmaker and offers some solid reasons why folks should check it out.

Tools

Need some creepy music for your campaign? Check out O* Erdenstern! Plenty of great things are being said about their Mountains of Madness soundtrack.

That’s it for this week on the news front. If you want a bit more, check out: